SHALOSH TRIO (‘Markson Pianos Jazz Night’)

As part of a bi-monthly collaboration with ‘Markson Pianos’http://www.marksonpianos.com supplier of our wonderful grand piano, we showcase the best jazz pianists in an intimate club setting. Tonight we present the New York and Israel based Acoustic Progressive Jazz trio. The music that is being created by SHALOSH is characterized by its drama, its sophistication and its genre crossing in Jazz music. Despite the classic Jazz trio format (piano, bass and drums) and the band members’ deep root in Jazz and improvised music traditions, SHALOSH’s music takes its own path across and between genres like Rock, Groove, Classical, African and Middle Eastern music.

The three members of SHALOSH: GADI STERN piano, DANIEL BENHORIN bass & MATAN ASSAYAG drums are childhood friends who have been playing together since they started making music. After years of working separately and internationally both as side-men as well as band leaders, the three reunited this year in order to form a band. Following years of rare concerts in New York and Israel, the three recorded their debut album titled “The Bell Garden”. Already in their short time of activity, a huge buzz started generating around the project. The band’s agenda is to make music that moves its audience in the greatest way possible, in order to break through the barrier created, between the music and the listener, which is often found in intellectual music of this genre. The story behind this group is both special and relevant to its agenda. www.shalosh.nethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dooaJgkEzys&feature=youtu.be

Karl Ferre – Musician

“My grandmother was born in 1898 and I remember her bottle green piano. When she was sixty-two years old she moved to the 26th floor of a tower block. The building was new; it was one of those towers put up in the 1960’s. It was in Edmonton, I was a young boy at the time. The piano stayed there ’til 1980 when she moved to Norwich to live with us. The piano came with her then as well. When I used to visit my nan in the tower block I’d wonder how the piano had got all the way up there! I’d tinkle away on it and she’d tell me “learn your scales, learn your scales!” That was her phrase. She was worried about the noise so she didn’t play it that much. She played more at the Salvation Army meetings, she’d play the hymns. I don’t know much about how she learnt piano.

When she took the piano to Norwich she gave it to my brother who lived nearby. It was on casters and he started wheeling it to his home but the piano never made it because it gradually started falling to bits in the street until there was nothing left! I didn’t really learn my scales but it’s never too late.” (Karl Ferre)

The 2016 Markson Pianos Concert Series

Its coming around to that time of year again; the cold harsh winter which seemed to go on forever is being pushed behind us. Time to spring in to the 2016 Markson Piano’s concert series. Held in the fine acoustics of St. Mary Magdalene Church, for the past 7 years we have gradually gained a loyal audience of music lovers.

For our first concert of the new series we celebrate the tremendously talented winners of the 2015 Around the Globe Piano Music Festival with some of the contestants travelling from as far a Singapore. The winners of different ages will play diverse styles, from classical to contemporary piano music. Highlights include John Bailey’s modern rendition of Memorabilia, written by Serbian composer Ognjen Bogdanovic and a performance of a recently discovered manuscript of Alfred Schnittke Piano Preludes 1952/53. This is an event to be enjoyed by the whole family.

Rhinegold Live – Katya Apekisheva & Charles Owen

Both Katya and Charles have enjoyed long international solo careers, recording on Somm, Avie, Quartz and Onyx and touring internationally at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Frick Collection, London Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Centre, Paris Musée d’Orsay and Aldeburgh.

Katya and Charles are both professors of piano at the Guildhall School of Music and have established a long-running piano duo partnership, recording duo versions of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Petrushka together. Join us as we delve into the rich sound world of piano duet music and explore just some of the vast array of works on offer.

This concert is followed by an informal Q&A which will be conducted by Owen Mortimer, editor of International Piano magazine